A 55-year-old resident of Hong Kong has reportedly fallen victim to an online cryptocurrency investment scam and lost her entire savings worth nearly HK$7 million (almost $900,000).
Such fraud cases have become quite frequent in the region lately. A study estimated that Hong Kong investors had lost around $50 million during the first half of 2022 due to crypto schemes.
‘Obtaining Property by Deception’
According to a South China Morning Post coverage, the woman fell prey when a wrongdoer contacted her on Instagram in January this year. The investigation said they later started chatting on another messaging application.
After gaining her trust, the scammer advised her to set up an account on an unfamiliar platform to invest in cryptocurrencies with the promise of great returns. Law enforcement agents outlined that the information shared on the venue regarding the prices of digital assets was counterfeit and controlled by the offender.
“She was told she would be paid daily interest of HK$2,500 in addition to a guaranteed profit of tens of thousands of US dollars,” the police said.
The criminal lured the victim to transfer HK$6.96 million ($886,600) between February and the end of March into 19 designated bank accounts.
When the woman attempted to withdraw a portion of her funds, she was requested to pay a fee. She even tried to borrow money from her daughter before realizing she had fallen victim to fraud.
The Hong Kong retiree sought help from the police, which classified the case as “obtaining property by deception:” a crime that is punishable by up to ten years in prison. Nonetheless, the authorities have not yet arrested any suspects.
This is not the only example of a major crypto scam in Hong Kong this week. A 44-year-old woman called the police a few days ago, claiming she parted with $3.1 million after investing in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) on a dubious platform.
Crypto Schemes on the Rise in Hong Kong
Data from 2022 showed there had been more than 10,000 cyber attacks in Hong Kong between the beginning of January last year and the end of June. 798 of them were crypto-related schemes that drained around $50 million from investors. In comparison, such crime accounted for $21 million of losses in H1, 2021.
The police recently announced that the total number of crypto scams in China’s special administrative region has surged to 2,336 by the end of 2022 (67% more than the 2021 incidents). Law enforcement agents coped with 1,884 of the cases.
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